Thursday, June 18, 2009

Lately I have been buying strawberries every week. Sometimes, I use them in amazingrecipes, and sometimes I just snack on them. This past weekend I bought some with the full intention of just having them for a mid-afternoon snack, until I caught this post on Closet Cooking. I swear, Kevin's recipes make me want to get in the kitchen right away and make them. The best part was having all of the ingredients. I literally had just enough strawberry preserves, puff pastry, and pistachios all laying around. I know this makes me seem like a bit of a freak, but I like to be prepared in case an awesome recipe like this comes up and I want to make it. In any case, I have been planning on doing a whole list of things I keep in my kitchen in order to whip up a delicious recipe, but I have been more than a little busy lately. I promise to get around to it soon so you too can have to tools to whip up something delicious in no time. Let me tell you, this tart is amazing. With the natural sweetness of strawberries and preserves, sugar is not necessary and the cinnamon adds a nice warmth. The crunch of pistachios gives it a little something extra and you really can't go wrong with buttery puff pastry.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil*.

Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface. Score a line around the pastry, about 1/2 inch from the edge. Brush the outer border with the egg wash mixture.

In a small bowl, mix together the strawberries, preserves, and cinnamon. Spread the strawberry mixture over the inside of the border on the pastry. Bake for 15-25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Serve warm, topped with the pistachios.

I've been going NUTS over the fresh strawberries everywhere right now. Now I want to make a strawberry tart with them! Too bad I don't have anything other than the pistachios just "lying" around. I don't think a tart made out of whole wheat bread and apricot preserves would be the same.

I also saw this on closet cooking and thought it looked absolutely wonderful. Glad it turned out well for you!

I'm already sad that strawberry season is (mostly) over here in the mid-Atlantic for this year. I didn't even have a chance to pick some once, though I did eat plenty of scrumptious fresh local ones from the farmer's market.